Texas Slave Narratives Expose Effectiveness of "General Order No. 3": The Fragmentation of Juneteenth's Emancipated

Abstract

The language of General Order No. 3, “the Juneteenth Order,” exposes the complexities of freedom for roughly two hundred fifty thousand enslaved black Texans; therein, archival slave narratives challenge how its constructs impacted emancipation. Using the slave narratives of Texas, this thesis argues that on June 19, 1865, or soon after, the language of General Order No. 3 requires looking with nuance at the realities of the process of emancipation. Thereby black Texans were active agents in determining how the interpretant of the Juneteenth Order and subsequent manumission varied for those enslaved. Rather than responding sensibly to the South’s historical loss, the master class continued leveraging slavery to limit the efficacy of the Order. After June 19, scores of formerly enslaved people asserted their rights for “absolute equality,” as declared in the Order, and to consider testimony that is often inverse, is a shortcoming this thesis addresses. The case study juxtaposes a qualitative-quantitative approach with a qualitative data analysis platform to expose how enslaved Texans are indeed agents of General Order No. 3. They not only echoed the emancipated language but also represented themselves as its reciters. Albeit the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was not officiated in Texas for another two and a half years after its issuance, introducing a methodological focus on oral histories hitherto deficient, June 19 informs our empirical understanding of emancipation and freedom for America’s black ancestors who descended from slavery lineages.